Cliddesden Primary School

About Cliddesden Primary School

Cliddesden Primary School, a state primary in Basingstoke and Deane, holds a Good rating from Ofsted, a grade it has maintained since its most recent graded inspection in 2011. The school's most informative exam metric is the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, which sits at 60% for the 2023/24 academic year. This is a whisker below the Hampshire local authority average of 61%, placing Cliddesden in the bottom half of schools nationally and regionally. However, the headline figure masks some stronger individual subject results: 73% of pupils met the expected standard in reading, and 80% did so in writing. Maths was the weaker area, with 60% at expected and a lower average scaled score of 103. The school's ranking within Basingstoke and Deane is 21st out of 40 primary schools, putting it in the middle of the pack locally.

Digging deeper into the KS2 results, the proportion of pupils achieving the higher standard in reading, writing and maths combined was 13%, which is a modest figure. Individually, 27% hit the higher standard in reading, while 20% did so in both maths and writing. The school's average reading scaled score of 106 is solid, and its maths average of 103 is slightly below the national benchmark of 105. Cliddesden's previous Ofsted inspection in 2009 rated it Requires Improvement, so the jump to Good in 2011 represents a clear turnaround. The most recent ungraded inspection in 2021 confirmed the school remains Good, with leadership and management, early years provision, and overall effectiveness all rated Good. The school has no sixth form and no nursery provision, so it focuses entirely on the primary years from ages 4 to 11.

Cliddesden is a small school with 105 pupils against a capacity of 119, and it is oversubscribed: for the 2025/26 intake, it received 36 applications for just 12 places, a ratio of 3:1, with all 12 first-preference applicants offered a spot. The school offers a range of facilities including a gymnasium, sports hall, playing fields, forest school, art studios, music rooms, and even a chapel. Sports include athletics, rounders, gymnastics and dance, while clubs cover drama, choir, book club and film club. SEND provisions are well-documented, covering specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech and language communication, hearing impairment, and autistic spectrum disorder. This is a school that suits families seeking a tight-knit, community-focused primary with a broad extracurricular offer, but who are realistic about its mid-table academic standing compared with the strongest performers in the local authority.

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